Early theorists viewed crowds as transforming people through five stages: excitement, organization, active participation, relaxation, and termination. Sociologists now see crowds as rational and guided by emergent norms that balance minimizing costs and maximizing rewards. Crowds develop various forms of collective behavior including riots, rumors, panics, mass hysteria, moral panics, fads and fashions, and urban legends. People join social movements due to relative deprivation, declining privilege, morality and ideology. Social movements use various tactics and propaganda through mass media to achieve their goals while facing resistance from threatened groups and governments.

1. Early Explanations: The Transformation of People
21.1 Explain what early theorists meant about crowds transforming people; summarize the five
stages of an acting crowd.
• How Crowds Change People
• The Acting Crowd

2. How Crowds Change People
This photo was taken
in Sicily, Italy, at the
G7 meetings. If you
were demonstrating
and tempers were
flaring, how do you
think you might get
“carried away” and do
things you wouldn’t
usually do?

3. Figure 21.1 Blumer’s Model of How an Acting
Crowd Develops
Source: Based on McPhail 1991:11.

4. The Contemporary View: The Rationality of the Crowd
21.2 Explain why sociologists today view crowds as rational and what is meant by emergent
norms.
• The Minimax Strategy
• Emergent Norms
• Bringing Emotions Back In
• How Sociologists Study Collective Behavior

5. The Minimax Strategy
• Minimize costs
• Maximize rewards

6. Emergent Norms
• New events require new norms
• Collective behavior is rational

7. Figure 21.2 Types of Participants in a Crowd
Concentric circles demonstrating the various types of crowd participants.
Source: By the author. Based on Turner and Killian 1987.

8. Bringing Emotions Back In
• Emotions can direct behavior
• Rationality and emotions balance each other

9. How Sociologists Study Collective Behavior
• Ask questions
• Examine the actions of ordinary people who are
responding to extraordinary situations

10. Forms of Collective Behavior
21.3 Describe the forms of collective behavior: riots, rumors, panics, mass hysteria, moral
panics, fads and fashions, and urban legends.
• Riots
• Rumors
• Panics
• Mass Hysteria
• Moral Panics
• Fads and Fashions
• Urban Legends

11. Riots
In this photo from
the Los Angeles
riots of 1992, can
you identify
emergent norms?

12. Rumors
• Based on ambiguity
• Thrive on importance and source
• Killed by facts
• Short lived
• Few consequences

13. Panics (1 of 2)
• The humorous panic
• Serious panics
• Calm in the midst of panic

14. Panics (2 of 2)
Table 21.1 Employees’ First Action after Learning of the Fire
Action Percentage
Helped others to leave 41%
Left the building 29%
Fought or reported the fire 17%
Continued routing activities 7%
Other (e.g., looked for a friend or relative) 5%
Note: Based on interviews with 95 of the 160 employees present at the
time of the fire: 48 men and 47 women.
Source: Based on Johnston and Johnson 1989

15. Mass Hysteria
• Real experience with no explanation
• The power of suggestibility
• Social transmission
• Tarantism; the “monkey man”

16. Moral Panics
Moral panics occur when large numbers of
people become fearful of what they
consider deteriorating morals and the fear
is out of proportion to the danger. There
are plenty of events to feed moral panics,
such as knowing that there are pedophiles
and leaving your child in the hands of
strangers at day care. In the 1980s, this
combination produced a moral panic that
swept the nation, casting suspicion on all
day care workers. This woman, Virginia
McMartin, was among those arrested.

17. Fads and Fashions
• Fashion
• Brings a form of peer pressure
• To attain status within fashion, some people are willing
to sacrifice their health

18. Urban Legends
• Realistic with unique twists
• The “friend of the friend” rumor
• Teaches modern morality
• Three principles
• Warnings and dangers of society
• Social change
• Instill fear

19. Types and Tactics of Social Movements
21.4 Analyze the types and tactics of social movements; include the use of propaganda.
• Types of Social Movements
• Tactics of Social Movements
• Multiple Realities and Social Movements
• Propaganda and the Mass Media

20. Types of Social Movements
Some social
movements arise
quickly and disappear
almost as fast. Others
are long lasting and
global, such as the
social movement
centering on climate
change.

21. Figure 21.3 Types of Social Movements
Source: The first four types are from Aberle (1966); the last two are by the author.

22. Figure 21.4 The Membership and Publics of
Social Movements
Concentric circles demonstrating the constituencies of social movements.
Source: By the author.

23. Tactics of Social Movements
Animal rights, a global social
movement, is an example of a
transnational social movement.
(See Figure 21.2.) This photo,
taken during “Fashion Week” in
London, is part of PETA’s (People
for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals) global campaign to stop
the wearing of fur, wool, leather,
and other skins. The purses,
dripping blood, are a protest
against the slaughter of animals
for purposes of fashion.

24. Down-to-Earth Sociology: “Tricks of the Trade”—
Deception and Persuasion in Propaganda
Social movements have
sincere activists who
support opposing
arguments. From this and
the next photo, you can
see how differently
opposing sides perceive
reality. Can you see why
this photo represents
propaganda?

25. Propaganda and the Mass Media
Social movements have
sincere activists who
support opposing
arguments. From this
and the previous photo,
you can see how
differently opposing
sides perceive reality.
Can you see why this
photo also represents
propaganda?

26. Why People Join Social Movements
21.5 To explain why people join social movements, use relative deprivation theory, declining
privilege theory, and morality and ideology.
• Relative Deprivation Theory: Improving Status and
Power
• Declining Privilege Theory: Protecting Status and Power
• Moral Issues and Ideological Commitment

27. Figure 21.5 Relative Deprivation and
Revolution
Visual depiction of the gap between expectations and conditions which,
according to relative deprivation theory, often leads to revolution.
Source: By the author.

28. Declining Privilege Theory
• Protecting status and power
• Want to maintain their privilege

29. Morality and Ideology: The True Believer
As a propaganda tool to
create fear and recruit
members, ISIS posts
videos of its
executions, such as this
one, on the Internet.

30. When Social Movements Pose a Threat to the Government
21.6 Explain how official reactions to a social movement can threaten our freedom.
• Agents Provocateur
• Militarization of Social Institutions

31. On the Success and Failure of Social Movements
21.7 Explain why most social movements fail, why some succeed, and why some continue for
decades.
• The Rocky Road to Success
• The Stages of Social Movements
• Resurgence

32. The Rocky Road to Success
• A social movement must focus on a problem that
concerns a large number of people
• Broad problems are deep within a society and require
broad solutions
• No quick fixes

33. The Stages of Social Movements
• Initial unrest and agitation
• Resource mobilization
• Organization
• Institutionalization
• Decline and death

34. Resurgence
For social movements
to continue, they need
the issues(s) being
protested to continue,
ongoing publicity,
organization, access to
resources, and the
hope that
participation will
make a difference.

35. Thinking Critically About Social Life: Which Side of the
Barricades? Pro-Choice and Pro-Life as a Social Movement
With sincere people on
both sides of the issue—
equally committed and
equally convinced that
their side is right—
abortion is destined to
remain a controversial
force in U.S. life.

36. Multiple Realities and Social Movements
21.8 Explain what multiple realities are and what they have to do with social movements.
• Multiple Realities
• Competing opinions and points of view
• Different lenses through which to perceive and
evaluate